Autonomy Systems Safety Engineer Lead

DiDi; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 149,000 - 296,000; Full time

Job summary

DiDi is seeking a Senior/Staff System Safety Engineer, Autonomy to lead safety strategy and deployment readiness for its fully autonomous driving systems. You will define safety frameworks, release policies, and system-level processes to enable safe unmanned operations.

You will collaborate with Software, Product, Operations and Safety teams to support leadership decisions regarding deployment, city expansion, and scaling, while advancing safety readiness across programs.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or higher degree in CS/Software Engineering/Systems Engineering or related field.
• 3–5 years in systems engineering, safety engineering, autonomous systems, or related field.
• Strong systems thinking and ability to decompose safety challenges.
• Collaborate across teams and own safety outcomes.
• Experience in fast-paced projects with ambiguous requirements.

Responsibilities

• Own safety evaluation and release strategy for unmanned operations with clear criteria for release, degradation, and fallback.
• Design and champion safety engineering framework, including requirements, architecture, and V&V plans.
• Assess unmanned workflows, emergency protocols, and supporting tools to ensure safety and operability.
• Develop safety evaluation methodologies and metrics; translate goals into verifiable indicators.
• Lead incident reviews and drive continuous safety improvements in design, testing, and procedures.
• Collaborate with Software, Product, Operations and Safety teams to support deployment decisions.

Skills

Systems thinking

Cross-team collaboration

Safety-minded problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s or higher in CS/Software/Systems Engineering or related field

Job description

DiDi is seeking a Senior/Staff System Safety Engineer, Autonomy to lead safety strategy and deployment readiness for its fully autonomous driving systems. You will define safety frameworks, release policies, and system-level processes to enable safe unmanned operations.

You will collaborate with Software, Product, Operations and Safety teams to support leadership decisions regarding deployment, city expansion, and scaling, while advancing safety readiness across programs.